The calendar may say Friday the 13th, but there’s nothing suspicious about the festivities in Davidson this Friday night. It’s time for the annual April Is for Arts Gallery Crawl in downtown Davidson, and for a Toast the Earth wine-and-art benefit for Davidson Lands Conservancy at Homewood Suites. Here are details about both events: Read the full story

Rosemary Gardner, interim director and curator at Davidson College art galleries, tidies up around the outdoor sculpture "Group of Ten" by Magdelena Abakanowicz. (Cathryn Westra photo)

Davidson College has completed the installation of another outdoor artwork  in the sculpture garden outside E.H. Little Library.  “Group of Ten” – a collection of near-life-size headless metal figures , is the work of renowned Polish artist Magdelena Abakanowicz.

The public is invited to a formal dedication of the piece Thursday, March 29, at 4:30 p.m. Read the full story

Roy Alexander (left), executive director of Davidson Lands Conservancy, and Russ Gavitt hatched the idea of a jazz-and-art fundraiser. They're standing in front of a new gazebo the DLC built at the Lake Davidson Nature Preserve, off Jetton Street.

Russ Gavitt has been a longtime supporter of the Davidson Lands Conservancy, but this year, he was looking for a way to do more. Over coffee with the conservancy’s executive director Roy Alexander recently, the photographer and Davidson resident helped come  up with the idea of staging an art and music fund-raiser.

On Friday, Feb. 24, Mr. Gavitt and other artists will be selling their work while a jazz quartet performs at “Spread the Love,” an arts reception to benefit three Davidson institutions: the lands conservancy, the Community School of Davidson and the Ada Jenkins Center. It will run from 7-10 p.m. at Homewood Suites, 125 Harbour Place Drive, off I-77 Exit 30 in Davidson.
Read the full story

Brad Thomas, Davidson College’s art gallery director since 1999, has found a new perch: As curator of contemporary art at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. Mint officials announced Thursday that he will start the new job Monday, Jan 23, at the museum in downtown Charlotte. On Wednesday night, Mr. Thomas as the college’s Van Every/Smith Galleries, saying farewells and accepting pats on the back from friends during an opening for the exhibit “Davidson Collects,” a show of recent acquisitions that shows the stamp he has put on Davidson’s permanent collection. See a story and photos in our latest Art News column, in THE GUIDE»

Can damage actually increase the value of a piece of art? A Davidson College philosophy professor thinks so, and he’ll test the theory in a benefit auction this Friday, Dec. 9., at Summit Coffee in Davidson. Read about Davidson Professor Paul Studtmann’s theory and project in The GUIDE»

Natasha Rivera is president of Davidson College's Freeword slam poetry club. (Davidson College photo)

Davidson College News Office
Davidson College’s slam-poetry team, FreeWord, invites the public to the first -ever Carolina Collegiate Slam on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The event titled “This Slam Will Not Be Televised,” will bring together eight teams of poet-performers from seven Carolina institutions to competitively recite their original work, and will begin at 8 p.m. in the Duke Family Performance Hall.

Tickets are free for all college and high school students, and $3 for non-students. Tickets can be ordered by calling 704-894-2135 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, or online at www.davidson.edu/tickets. Read the full story

The empty area next to the brick wall at CVS, under the oak tree, is to become a "book garden" this fall in the town's second public art project. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

The Davidson Public Art Commission is about to start work on its second public art project, a “Book Garden” off Main Street, between the public library and the CVS pharmacy. The $100,000 project was shelved last year when state and federal grants never came through, but it’s back on track thanks to a new grant from Wells Fargo Corp. Read the full story

The new park is off Jetton Street behind Aquesta Bank (building at rear). (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Town officials and representatives of developer Edens & Avant will dedicate a small new park on Thursday off Jetton Street near the Davidson Commons (Harris Teeter) shopping center. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. in the park behind the Aquesta Bank branch.

The site originally was slated for a row of 5 townhouses. But Edens & Avant, which developed the shopping center and site, in early 2009 requested a change in the master plan to allow a park. The company told town officials it has been unable to find a developer to build the homes, in part because of the poor real estate market. Read the full story